After a private scheme with Herta, the space station quickly returned to calm.
Meanwhile, the crew of the Astral Express busied themselves with their own tasks:
Stelle went off to test the Simulated Universe.
Lynelle was juggling duties between the worlds of Honkai Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.
March was organizing her photos and souvenirs from Belobog.
Dan Heng was compiling data for the archives, and the two "parental figures" of the Express had procured a batch of supplies at the station, planning to deliver them to Belobog on their next departure.
However, this peaceful routine was soon interrupted by the arrival of Screwllum.
Because of Screwllum's visit, Stelle also received a request from a staff member named Leonard—during the Stellaron Hunters' invasion of the station, they had left behind some hidden-message graffiti in various places.
Leonard asked Stelle to help him clean it up, and driven by her curiosity about the Stellaron Hunters and her own origins, she agreed without hesitation.
But just as Stelle was busy cleaning graffiti all over the station...
"Hmm? The graffiti I left last time is being scanned?"
A translucent figure appeared in a corner of the space station.
"Let me see what's going on... Screwllum suddenly arrived at the station?"
Silver Wolf's projection fell into thought.
"Well, the difficulty level for this round looks pretty high... Now that I think about it, Elio's expression before I left was indeed a bit... complicated. He didn't give me a script, but it doesn't seem like this will be a clean victory for me."
"Whatever, losing doesn't matter. There's always next time. Games need a challenge to be fun anyway..."
Her hesitation didn't last long. For a person who saw life as a game like her, being surrounded by powerful opponents only made her more excited.
"But, since there's still some time before all the graffiti gets cleaned up, I might as well go check out that girl named Lynelle. Even if I don't achieve my main goal, at least I can satisfy my curiosity."
During the previous invasion, that pink-haired girl who used strange abilities and completely dominated Silver Wolf in their digital duel had left a deep impression.
But with missions to complete back then, their clash hadn't been fully satisfying. So, this time, she wanted to see what Lynelle was up to.
Even if she couldn't run into Lynelle directly, she could at least gather some clues to understand her better.
From what she could tell, aside from Elio, the other Stellaron Hunters knew nothing about this mysterious girl who was so close to Stelle. And for some reason, Elio never mentioned anything about Lynelle either, possibly related to the mysterious Emanator backing her.
"Prometheus, locate Lynelle's room for me."
After giving the soft command, Silver Wolf's projection vanished from the spot, reappearing right at the door to Lynelle's room.
"Looks like my luck isn't so great..."
Checking Prometheus's findings, Silver Wolf sighed in disappointment.
According to the nearby surveillance footage, Lynelle had left her room early in the morning and hadn't returned since. So, the room was currently empty.
"Ah well, I'm already here. Might as take a look around."
Silver Wolf's projection phased straight through the locked door.
As Herta's lab assistant, Lynelle's room should, in theory, be quite luxurious.
Unfortunately, neither Lynelle nor Herta cared much for material comforts, so Lynelle's room on the station was probably just standard—excluding its contents.
Why say that? Well, the furniture in Lynelle's room had been procured by Asta, who later told Lynelle, 'It was just a little spending money.'
However, perhaps because she'd left in a hurry that morning, Lynelle's room was mostly untouched, still in the same state as when she'd been gaming and sleeping the night before, full of lived-in vibes.
"Whoa, this many games? Didn't expect Lynelle to be a fellow enthusiast."
The moment she saw the games, Silver Wolf perked up. But after taking a close look at Lynelle's console, she let out a sound of disbelief.
"What the—she plays all these games and hasn't used a single cheat?!"
Thinking of all the... 'methods' she employed in her own gaming, the chastened Silver Wolf quickly steered clear of Lynelle's computer desk, diverting her attention to other furnishings in the room.
"Let's see what goodies are in the fridge... Wait, why is it Suida Douce... Glad I'm just a projection and can't smell that stuff. Wonder who she's planning to prank with this."
"This is... a game cartridge I've never seen? It's called 'Honkai Impact 3rd (Prototype).' Hmm, I'll copy it and try it out later."
"Oh, and here's a little Herta figure."
Discovering the Herta doll displayed in Lynelle's cabinet, Silver Wolf's spirits lifted instantly.
"Let me give you a little spray-paint... Hee hee."
Herta Doll: ? → ?
After touring the room, Silver Wolf finally stretched contentedly.
"Phew... It's about time to... Huh? Prometheus, what's up?"
Just as she was about to leave, Silver Wolf received a message from Prometheus.
"What do you mean, you checked the nearby surveillance and found something interesting... Let me see."
Silver Wolf opened the video Prometheus sent.
In the footage, shortly after Lynelle left her room, Stelle also emerged from the room, a slice of bread in her mouth.
"So what? Stelle just went to Lynelle's for breakfast. I mooch off Kafka's all the time too... What do you mean, this is Stelle's only entry/exit record today?"
Silver Wolf realized why Prometheus had specifically alerted her.
"You're saying she was here all last night?"
Silver Wolf turned to look at the double bed in the room, sucking in a sharp breath.
"...It's fine, right? Lynelle and Stelle are both girls. It's normal for them to sleep together... right?"
Staring at the messy bed, Silver Wolf simply couldn't control her curiosity. Even though she couldn't physically touch anything, she could scan and simulate the data to achieve a similar effect.
So, she 'lifted' the blanket on the bed.
"..."
Silver Wolf abruptly canceled the data simulation, her face flushing bright red.
Although she'd played some R-rated games out of curiosity herself, the impact of a data-simulated scene versus reality was... on a different level.
"This... Is this for real?"
"This is too weird. L-let me analyze it again..."
She pulled the covers back again, but the data Prometheus scanned about the damp stain on the sheets was no different from before.
"Oh no, I think I saw something I shouldn't have..."
"Sh-should I tell Firefly about this?"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.